the fact, that the soul of man exercises in the human body all the functions of sensitive and vegetative life. But this point is reserved for the next Proposition. Setting it on one side, therefore, for the moment, it is plain, from the very nature of the case, that it will not be possible to discover such a link in any supposed order of men possessing a specific nature half-way between spirit and matter; for such a hypothesis is a contradiction in terms. spirit cannot be more or less spirit after the manner that matter can be more or less organized. A Form must be wholly spiritual, or wholly unspiritual; though its faculties may be partly the one, partly the other. Neither is it possible, for the same reason, that there should be a common ancestry, save in the analogical sense that the two classes of Forms actuate the same primordial matter, and that the material organism exhibits a progressive development, in its gradual disposition for receiving the human soul, which carries matter successively through the lower gradations up to its highest known structure under the actuation of successive provisional Forms. It is hard to imagine that the distinguished naturalists who have overleaped the boundaries of their particular discipline, in order to offer us their theories touching this subject can be in earnest when they represent the intellect and will of man as developed functions of matter, or the soul of man as a development of the instinct of brutes. It looks like an ill-timed joke, to be gravely informed that man's recognition of a God and of the consequent duty of religious worship can find its germ in the barking of a dog at the unexpected opening of a parasol1. Dismissing, then, these follies, we must find the missing link,-if anywhere,-among the substantial Forms of irrational animals, as anticipatory, according to the measure of their capacity, of the special or distinctive faculties of the human soul. And here, as a fact, we find it. In certain higher orders of animals their natural operation exhibits itself after a manner markedly distinct from that of other animals, and (so far as a material Form can do) anticipates, or rather foreshadows, the distinctive action of spiritual Forms. There are two faculties of a spiritual Form, and two only, so far as we know,-viz. intellect and will. But, as has been observed in an earlier part of this Volume, certain animals exhibit something that looks very like both. For instance, to repeat the instance of the Angelic Doctor;-sheep

1 Darwin's Descent of Man, Part I, Ch. 2, p. 67.

flee from wolf in general, not from this wolf in particular. Similarly, a cat will pounce upon any mouse, without troubling itself about its individual notes. But in this there is the exhibition of a sensile universal. St. Thomas offers another illustration in the action of birds that collect straw, twigs, feathers, etc., not because these are a gratification to their senses, but because they are useful as material for building their nests. He calls this faculty in animals vis aestimativa; and in one place remarks, that by it the sensitive soul of the animalHas a sort of slight participation of reason, reaching in its highest development to the lowest grade of the latter 2;' and that, by reason of the same faculty, Animals are said to have a sort of prudence 3. Further: In another place he says, that brute animals have An imperfect cognition of their end, by which the end and the Good is known in the particular; and that hence they are capable of fruition, which belongs to the appetitive faculty, after an imperfect manner 4.' Lastly: He adds, that they not only seek after that which is pleasing to sense,—for that is an operation proper to the sensitive Form;-but they pursue victory, which they obtain painfully, and this 'After a sort reaches to the higher appetite,'-that, namely, of the will. Yet, there are three distinguishing characteristics of the spiritual Form, which the purely animal Form can never reach; viz. 1. the formation of an abstract universal, and therefore of good as the Good, of end as the end: 2. freedom of the will, and consequently true choice: 3. consciousness.

COROLLARY.

self

Just as there are connecting links between the four principal gradations of material being; so are there similar connecting links between the species which divide these gradations, with the excep tion of the highest gradation in which but one species can be found.

1 1ae lxxviii, 4, c.

2

Aliquid vero, secundum quod habet aliquam participationem modicam rationis, attingens ad ultimum ejus in sui supremo.' Verit. Q. xxv, a. 2, c., v. f.

34

Unde ratione hujus aestimationis dicuntur animalia quamdam prudentiam habere, ut patet in principio Metaphysicorum.' Ibidem.

* Imperfecta autem cognitio est, qua cognoscitur particulariter finis et bonum; et talis cognitio est in brutis animalibus.' I-2ae xi, 2, C.

Quod relicto delectabili appetit victoriam, quam consequitur cum dolore, quod ad irascibilem pertinet, competit ei secundum quod attingit aliqualiter appetitum superiorem.' Verit. Q. xxv, a. 2, c., v. f.

Both serve to perfect the unity of the cosmic order. We have casually come across some indications of the latter in the declaration of the Thesis; but a full treatment of the subject more properly belongs to the naturalist. The words, then, of the Angelic Doctor, -towards the close of the second paragraph in the fundamental passage which prefaces the hundred and eighty-sixth Proposition,are verified by the evidence of the physical disciplines: Moreover, under each of these orders he will find a diversity, accordingly as some are more perfect than others; in such wise that those which are highest in a lower genus are seen to approach the higher genus, and conversely. For instance, animals incapable of locomotion are like plants.'

PROPOSITION CXCV.

St. Thomas teaches that in embryos generally there is a progressive development of being; so that each embryo passes through the gradations of life inferior to its own by virtue of successive Forms which are provisional and transitory. In particular, such is his explicit teaching with regard to the human embryo. This theory, which is not unsupported by facts of physical experience, serves to throw fresh light on the perfection of cosmic order, as well as on the unity of the Subject.

PROLEGOMENON.

In two ways the unity of cosmic order is manifested in the four kingdoms of material Forms and their corresponding substances. One way is, by exhibition of the links which serve to connect the orders with each other. This was the purport of the preceding Proposition. The other way is, by establishment of the fact that these successive kingdoms, with the exception of the last, are simple developments of one from the other; in such wise that the inferior is the foundation of the gradation immediately above it, and the superior in consequence virtually includes all those that are inferior. to it. Thus, the animal Form virtually and eminently includes the vegetable Form as well as the Forms of such elements as are included in the material constitution of the animal substance. Such is the purport of the present Proposition.

As the Enunciation of the Proposition expressly includes only living Forms, a fact has been omitted that is, nevertheless, in an eminent degree confirmatory of the truth for which we are now

contending. There is not a single inanimate or animate body,including that of man,-which is not exclusively composed of the primordial elements in their various chemical combinations. Here is the occasion to say a word about protoplasm, as it has been called. The metaphysician may securely wait, till much that is obscure and doubtful in connection with this young discovery shall have been elucidated by future observation and experiment. Thus much, however, may be fittingly said. As far as we know at present, there is no such thing as independent, or undifferentiated, protoplasm. It is always specific, and can only act within its own specific limits. But it receives specification, and with specification life, from the substantial Form that actuates it.

DECLARATION OF THE FOUR MEMBERS OF THE PROPOSITION.

I. IN THE FIRST MEMBER it is asserted, that St. Thomas teaches that in embryos generally there is a progressive development of being in the manner indicated; and that such is his teaching in particular with regard to the human embryo. These two propositions have been united under one Member.

In a passage which shall be given the Angelic Doctor is occupied in drawing a distinction between the generation of animals and that of inanimate substances; and he takes occasion to observe, that the generation of inanimate substances involves two Forms only, the Form acquired in the newly generated body, and the Form expelled in the corruption of the previous composite. But, he proceeds to say, 'In the generation of an animal there appear diverse substantial Forms; since there first appears the generative element, and afterwards the blood, and so on, till there is the Form of a man or of an animal. Accordingly, such generation is necessarily not simple, but embracing within itself several generations and corruptions. For it is impossible that one and the same substantial Form should be gradually evolved into act, as we have shown.' The reason which the Angelic Doctor gives for this is twofold. One is, that a substantial bodily Form,-forasmuch as it belongs to the Category of Substance, (under which it is not directly included, only because of the incompleteness of its entity),—does not admit of more or less, as the Philosopher teaches us in his Categories. There are no entitative gradations in a substance, qua substance. It either is such or is not. The other is, that generation is the work of a moment. In the very same instant that the Form of the corrupted substance is expelled, the new Form is evolved. All the

graduation that takes place in the process of generation belongs to the matter, which is little by little disposed for the eduction of the new Form and proportionally indisposed for the retention of the old Form. Now to proceed with the quotation:-Thus, then, by the formative virtue which at the commencement is in the generative element' (the sperm cells) the Form of the generative element is expelled, and another Form introduced;-this latter expelled, another may be afterwards introduced; and in this way first the vegetative soul is introduced;--afterwards, this latter is expelled, and a soul that is sensitive at once and vegetative,' (that is to say, which virtually and eminently contains the latter), 'is introduced; -this last expelled, a soul which is rational at once and sensitive as well as vegetative' (virtually and eminently) is introduced, not by the virtue aforesaid,' i.e. by the formative virtue of the sperm-cell, 'but by the Creator. Accordingly, it is to be affirmed, in consonance with this opinion, that, previous to the possession of a rational soul by the embryo, it lives and possesses a soul, on the expulsion of which a rational soul is introduced 1.'

In this passage the Angelic Doctor traces the evolution of a human embryo from the moment of its conception up to its complete development under a specific human Form which is the spiritual soul. At first it exists as matter under a rudimentary organization and specifically constituted by that which we may call the foetus-Form,- itself including a variety of provisional and transitory Forms succeeding each other with the progress of the dispositions of the matter and of its incipient organism. This is the first stage of evolution. By virtue of the qualities inherent in this provisional body and communicated to it by the generating agent, the organization progresses, until the matter becomes indisposed for retaining the foetus-Form and evolves the plant-Form,

1 'In generatione autem animalis apparent diversae formae substantiales; cum primo appareat sperma, et postea sanguis, et sic deinceps quousque sit forma hominis vel animalis. Et sic oportet quod hujusmodi generatio non sit simplex, sed continens in se plures generationes et corruptiones. Non enim potest esse quod una et eadem forma substantialis gradatim educatur in actum, ut ostensum est. Sic ergo per virtutem formativam quae a principio est in semine, abjecta forma spermatis, inducitur alia forma; qua abjecta, iterum inducatur alia: et sic primo inducatur anima vegetabilis; deinde, ea abjecta, inducatur anima sensibilis et vegetabilis simul; qua abjecta, inducatur non per virtutem praedictam sed a creante, anima quae simul est rationalis, sensibilis, et vegetabilis. Et sic dicendum est secundum hanc opinionem, quod embryo antequam habeat animam rationalem, vivit, et habet animam, qua abjecta, inducitur anima rationalis.' Poa Q. iii, a. 9, 9m, in f.